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Bill Estep / The Lexington Herald-Leader via
This photo shows the charred remains of a Gray, Ky., home after a fire erupted, Saturday, March 9.
GRAY, Ky. — As flames engulfed a small house in rural southeastern Kentucky, Gino Cima raced to the scene to try to save his nephew, his nephew's fiancee and the five children inside. The drive in the tiny town of Gray took just minutes, but family members said Sunday that Cima was too late — he reached a side door as the fire raged and pulled out the bodies of the two adults.
"Hey, there's babies in there, there's babies in there!" Gino Cima screamed to firefighters, according to his wife, Laura, who also was at the scene.
The fire killed all seven people in the ranch-style home Saturday. Officials on Sunday did not identify the victims, but family members said the children ranged in age from 10 months to 3 years. They said the woman who died was three months pregnant and was the mother of three of the children inside. The other two children were siblings and friends of the family, visiting for the night for a sleepover, the relatives said.
Officials said the cause of the fire was under investigation. Arson investigators were at the scene Saturday, but officials said no foul play was suspected.
Laura Cima said she owned the single-story, wood-frame house that the couple was renting. She said they had recently moved in and were busy painting and getting carpets cleaned. They shared a bedroom in the back of the house, and Cima said the children were sleeping in a front room Saturday morning. She described an unused bedroom where she and her husband saw flames pouring out of a window when they arrived Saturday.
Gray is a few miles outside of Corbin, a city of about 7,000 in the foothills of Appalachia near the Daniel Boone National Forest and the borders of Tennessee and Virginia.
Shannon Disney, a sister-in-law of one of the victims, said the house that burned on Shady Brook Lane is surrounded by homes of family members — so many that the area is nicknamed "Disneyland." She said a relative who drove past the house at 7:45 a.m. noticed nothing unusual, but another who lives nearby saw smoke coming from it around 9 a.m.
Disney described the couple as devoted to the children, with their lives organized around bedtime and bath time. She said the woman had just gotten an ultrasound, and the couple was excited to plan for the birth, though they didn't know yet whether it was a boy or girl.
Lisa Norman-Hudson / AP
A charred house partially stands on March 10 after it was gutted by a fire in Gray, Ky., on March 9, killing two adults and five children.
Disney called the house alive with kids, with the couple regularly pulling children on a wagon, pushing a tire swing or playing hide-and-seek. On Sunday, children's toys and a stroller were seen outside the house as a stream of people stopped by.
"Everybody is very heartbroken over it. Everybody knows the Disney family," said Amy Weddle, who was working Sunday at J&G Market, a popular convenience store where the couple and the children frequently stopped to buy candy and milk. "They're always good to everybody."
Weddle put a jar on the counter Sunday seeking donations to help pay for burial expenses. It had four $1 dollar bills in it Sunday morning.
State police said Sunday that no more information on the fire would be released until Monday.
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Where can we make a donation for expenses?
Such a terrible thing to happen to a young family who apparently had such happy plans in the future.It reminds one to treasure their loved ones each moment and take nothing for granted. I can't imagine what that Uncle and his wife must be going through after arriving on the scene.Just breaks my heart thinking about it.
Please call J & G Market Gray, KY 40734, 606-532-2160 to offer donations. The mother of the young man who died, works there. Collections taken will be split between all victims relatives. There was no home insurance.
MOmaid-since even the one that seemed legit said 'proceeds' would be "SPLIT among all the relatives"
Let me clarify as there seems to be concerns. In the article, you will find mentioned the donation jar which was set up for funds. I contacted the store in question. The mother of the young man who died, works here. The owner, Joyce F. has started the collection in the very small community. Since the young couple had not married yet, there are those two separate families.Then the two friends sleeping over.Another family in need. The young mother with her three small children, the young man whom she was going to marry, and the two children spending the night on a sleep over means THREE families trying to struggle with coming up with funds for funeral arrangements.
Donations collected will be split between the needs of these three families equally, instead of favoring one family's loss over another. PLEASE, do your own phone call, make your own arrangement as you feel best. If someone else starts another donation program,WONDERFUL! The business owner plans on giving the funds to each of the funeral homes directly.She just wants it to be fair across the board. Do your own checking as you wish. I only set this up to help those who seemed to ask for a way. Otherwise, I would never have posted this. Folks ask all the time what they can do to help when tragedy strikes. I thought I would try calling myself. Posts of condolences are always wonderful. Use good judgment when people ask for donations.But don't refuse to pick up and donate because you think it isn't legit. I am only providing you with a phone number. The rest is up to those who might be interested. You lose nothing in checking it out yourself
God, how sad
I'm from Kentucky and would love to help out in anyway I can.
This is so heartbreaking to see such tragedy. Our family too would like to help!
Our condolences to the family and friends of these loved ones. You are all in our prayers and may the Angels come give you comfort and peace in this sorrowful time of need.
O pray for this family and all the extended family and friends who knew these people. When I hear of things like this it really makes me realize that my issues in life are so small compared to those of people like this. I hope that we are all given info on where to donate cuz there are many that would love to help in anyway they can in Kentucky or here in CA where I live. God Bless You all.
Where was GOD as that happened???
Why do you want to start a fight over this? Can't you just say how sad this is and move on?
Apollo,
Why waste time asking a question when you don't care about the answer?
He was there calling his children home as their time here on earth is over, just as he was there when you were created saying I can't believe I am doing this but look out world here comes the next village idiot.
Why don't you ask Him?
Apollo, save your drivel, we don't want ot hear it. Why don't you do something constructive and donate to the family?
everyone who isnt a paranoid delusional knows theres no god , its only an exression, plenty good ppl die every second in horrific ways, and monsters go on to live long rich lives.
wen,
Yeah, you "know" there is no God just as you say you can't die if you're not born yet. Did your parents ever mention to you that you're an expression?
Wow, my Old Man was right, there "are" people like you out there...
Apollo and Wen, I don't see how you can be so full of poison to say things like this commenting on this post. Even if you really have these opinions, do you really feel its appropriate to express them after an article like this? No place to spew your negativity. Have a heart. For all you know the family is reading these comments.
Apollo; why do you have to bring God up?
Wen; PROOVE IT!
God does not have any evil doing with the tragic. God allows things to happen he does not cause bad things to happen. yes it is a total tragic and my prayers goes out to all the families & friends.....
Shay,
That's why I'm a non-believer. I have a very hard time believing that someone as omnipotent as God is supposed to be could just stand by while terrible things happen to seemingly good people. Good people that he created and that he claims to love. Yet other times, it's a miracle that someone survived, and that is attributed to God. What makes these people less worthy of a miracle? Why didn't God step in this time, but supposedly he has at other times? Most of the victims here were children that hadn't even begun their lives.
I find comfort in the fact I think these types of incidents are random. Bad people, good people, it doesn't matter. Sometimes bad things happen to good people, and good things happen to bad people. It's not always fair, but I find it more fair than an omnipotent being watching over, and only acting when he feels like it.
I'm not trying to start an argument, you're free to believe how you do. Just giving a perspective from the non-believer's point of view.
But I will agree with you that this is tragedy, and my thoughts are with the friends and family affected by it.
If God's only Son can be tortured and murdreed, death is not beneath any of us.
Eight died in the fire, not seven. Remember, the mother was pregnant.
lets not split hairs, you cant die if youre not born yet. semantics
wen,
You're "so" wrong man....
Wen;
seriously your being stubborn you CAN die when your not born yet its called ABORTION
Stop it folks. This family had a tragedy.
Yes, please can someone post a legitimate site to donate? I don't have much,but I'd like to help. This is just too heartbreaking.
To Apollo, God sent His Son to die for our sins. If you believe this, and if these who died believed this, then that is where God is and they now see Him. Rejoice!!
belief in nonsense doesnt make it true those ppl are gullable wrong uneducated dopey and in need of a mental health professional
If you're going to insult others as being uneducated, you should make sure to use proper spelling and punctuation in your own post.
wen, now is not the time or the place to have a debate about the existance of God, and I say this as someone who doesn't believe. In a time of grief, how does it hurt you or me if someone believes in God and takes comfort in that belief? It's fine that you don't believe, but insulting those that do does nothing to help your cause.
We debate Gdod when the hurricane hit New Orleans and preachers said it was God's wrath on those sinners.
Not true as we know because tragic of anything can hit anywhere. Besised we all were born in sin that means we are sinners as well.
What a horrible event. Condolences to all involved.
Apollo-2264388;
God is omniscient and omnipresent. If you are a faithful person you would not ask this question, Where God was at the time of the fire? "Every living soul (human or otherwise) will taste death" and that is the ultimate truth. Fire, storm, earthquake etc., etc., are just pretexts by which we the people, and other animals will leave this earth. God has assigned each one of us a fixed term on this earth and we all will vanish at the end of that term, not a second early or a second late... Period!
Just remember we cannot blame God for human actions, such as drones, bombs, atom bombs and of course fires.... We all shall stand in front of God on the day of judgment and answer his questions...
correct you cannot blame something that doesnt exist. you die you are fertilizer, the reason you cant accept this is because you are arrogant.
wen
You have the right to believe what you like but please, for the sake of the family and friends of the family who may read the posts, don't inflict more hurt or pain. This is definitely not the forum for your comments. Simply send loving thoughts out to those who are left suffering.
Day after day more tragedy......Life can really get sickening when you really look at it.......
Apollo shows no class once again. People like this defeat the reaqson for the comment thread.
Dont forget Wenezdae
For people who believe in God, they already know where he was.
For people who don't believe in God, it's a non-question.
So seems like if you could answer the question of "which one of these groups of people you belong to", you wouldn't have to stir the pot needlessly.
dingdongerrrrr banned, new user death trolling. No thanks. Find another site.
At least this follow up article gives a clue as to what might have started the fire--since it mentions the family 'painting and cleaning carpets.' I'll bet it was a chemical reaction.
I too would be very careful in making donations, since even the one that seemed legit said 'proceeds' would be "SPLIT among all the relatives"
I don't WANT any of the money going for anything but burial expenses--and DEFINITELY not (since the Disney woman said most of the homes in the area were owned by Disney relatives) distant relatives.
What a huge tragedy.
Well you have to think about the famillies probably take time off form work....Jobs today does not have the fornate benefits as some ppl to take off w/ pay. I am staing that because seriously I went through that when I lost my Dad and took time away from work during his critical times. Ppl don't understand fully until it happens to them because it was hard for me to really catch up on bills and ect....
It certainly appears there were NO functioning smoke alarms in that house. How the hell could two adults not escape from a tiny one story home?
My guess would be they were trying to get their kids.
Exactly. There would be no way I'd be getting out of a burning house without my kids and my biggest fear is fire.
Unfortunately everyone may have been overcome by smoke, perhaps even while sleeping, and never had the chance to even try to get out of the house.
But like Faerieschyld wrote, given the chance to act I would not leave that house without the children either.
My condolences to the families.
Smoke detector? Old liberal, commie concept..like seat belts and other safety procedures.
We had a family who's home caught fire a few years ago in our neighborhood.
The mother and father grabbed one child eachand got them outside.
By then the fire dept. had shown up. Both the man and his wife broke loose from the firemen,returned inside yelling "we still have a child in there"! They both died inside trying to save their other son!That is what a parent would do,
"frequent male? flyer," and something you seem to know nothing about. Keep you dumb azz remarks
for your buddies at the card game.
Get the facts first then I know you will know!
There were working smoke detectors. They were trying to get to the children. There was just too much smoke. They died trying to get the kids out. Those kids were their life...for whoever made the comment about UNWANTED children...they wanted every child they had. Who is to say that they didn't want 10 more? That is not a decision for others to make or to judge. This happened in my community. Everyone is devastated. This was a young family.
My suggestion...if you can't post your condolences, or any helpful comments, then please just don't post at all. This entire community is in mourning over this tragedy. Thank you to Windancersong-1494878 for posting the information about donations. There are 3 families who need help. If you can't give monetary donations, your thoughts and prayers are more than welcomed.
There is a time to be a Di$k and this is not it,( at that a little Di#k), if we are to learn anything from this is that if you rent or own a home old or new you should have smoke detectors, this could have saved this family from a painful death. Buy the way you should go back to the uk were your mother is your brother and your sister is you son.
I find the time of this fire suspicious , something is just not right.
With the fire starting in the adjacent bedroom where a carpet had just been cleaned and was still damp, one wonders if a space heater might have been being used to dry the carpet. A typical space heater rated @ 1000 to 1500 watts will draw about 9 amps @ 1000 watts and almost 13 amps @ 1500 watts. Even today with tip-over protection and good precautions taken to keep safe clearances from combustibles, the outlet that the heater is plugged into can be rated @ only 15 amps. Over time these 15 amps outlets can become weak as the contacts are flexed with each connection and even possibly over taxed at times during its life cycle.
When using space heaters one should avoid using the highest setting if plugged into an older outlet and even then keep a good vigil on the heater and its cord, especially the plug, if it is getting overly warm then something should be done to remedy the situation. Replacing the 15 amp rated outlet with a much heavier 20 amp rated one will help. Other things to consider is maybe having a ground fault or arc fault breaker installed in the circuit if one will be using a portable heater quite frequently.
In any case, one should always disconnect a portable heater when not being used, and never leave one unattended when children and/or pets are around. And of course, keep all smoke detectors in good operational condition and check them periodically.
Another thing....make sure the wiring is the proper size for the breaker or fuse being used to protect the circuit. Never more than a 15 amp breaker or fuse on number 14 wire, and never more that a 20 amp breaker or fuse on number 12 wire. If you are uncertain as to what type wiring you have or have little experience with electric home wiring than call a certified electrician to check, safe is better than sorry.
May God bless all the families involved in this terrible tragedy, give them peace and let them know that He has their loved ones safe in His house until we all are joined again.
Smoke detectors? Duhhhh
Duh how do you know or not if there was? It might have been too late when it blazed!
Being Mexicans I'm gonna go with either a tortilla hot plate left on or a pile of paint thinner soaked rags from when they were painting earlier in the day. Nothing like a bunch of neighborhood kids having a sleepover with the smell of fresh paint fumes filling the house..
Either way the Democratic party must be devastated. That's one less family of future left wing Latino voters in this country..
They weren't Mexican. They are Italian. Not that it matters, it is a devasting loss to a tiny community.
Wow. The ignorance, insensitivity and intolerance in the face of tragedy never ceases to amaze.
Please lie across the tracks when that train does arrive.
Show your face stop hiding behind the internet.....prejudice idiot!!!!!!!
lawful1
Well said!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Where can we donate to make sure people who are unfit to rear or care for children can be mildly educated?
Do you not wonder why a couple who is renting a small house and has it filled with children is not monitoring the
safety of the house?At 7:30 a normal person is up and making sure all is well for the day for the children.
Nothing unusal at that hour according to the report. Then smoke seen at 9 am. So a couple with responsibility for their own and others are abdicating and sleeping in? Seriously folks, does not a single person ever take responsiblity for parenting anymore? What has happened? Smoke and fire alarms are free or cheap.
That is one excellent line of defense. Of course responsible parenting is the first. This is a very sad story, but all elements need to be looked at. Once again horrible parenting rears its ugly head. Landlord sounds stellar as well. Just a sad deal all around.
I'm sure I will be called bad things, but when are people going to learn? Not enough money for homeowner's insurance, but she has 3 kids, 3 and younger, and 1 on the way. Stop having kids you can't afford! Then maybe you can buy the things you need - good smoke detectors and homeowner's insurance - and, no one has to die.
I will not call you bad things, but there are times when you just don't need to express your disapproval about other people's choices to have kids. And when those people have died, along with the children that you apparently think should not have been born, is one of those times.
You are sad.....I really don't think the article contained the entire story unless you know them personally. Bt the way I don't think you a saint or perfect. What does the lady have anything to do with the lives that were lost??????????
They were RENTING the house...they did not OWN the house. So no, they did not have home OWNER'S insurance because they did not OWN the home.
The story has been updated - at the time of my post there was nothing about them renting the house and the story said they did not have homeowner's insurance. My feelings are the same about living within your means and not creating luxuries that you cannot afford.
So sad... Thoughts and prayers to their loved ones.
Putting out the welcome mat because Jesus had already prepared a beautiful place for them.
or Google J&G Market. I did J & G Market Gray, KY: 10135 N Us Highway , 25E, Gray, KY 40734 Tel: 606-523-2160.
Horrible! Who lives like this these days??? It's scary because it may be where we're all headed if the government keeps on it's present course....no middle class, just the very poor and the very rich.